Leonard Cohen

New Skin for the Old Ceremony

A step up for Cohen

Review Score:

(8/10)
"You were Marlon Brando, I was Steve McQueen/You were K.Y. Jelly, I was Vaseline/You were the father of modern medicine, I was Mr. Clean/You where the (...) and the beast of Babylon, I was Rin Tin Tin," Leonard Cohen sings on "Is This What You Wanted," a song that displays the much-needed dose of humor added to his lyrical exercises in regret and self-depreciation on his fourth album, 1974's New Skin for the Old Ceremony. New Skin's more varied instrumentation, looser vocal approach and added wit make it Cohen's best album yet. Although he was always a finely skilled and richly tender poet, one could only endure so much of Cohen's earlier albums as spirit-stomping and disheartened as they were. Although the main subject matter of New Skin is still grief, Cohen confronts life's tragedies with a different approach. He abandons the mournful wailing of songs like "Bird on a Wire" or "Stories of the Street" and the somber expressions of "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" or "The Stranger Song" and dons a type of charisma, classified somewhere between crooner and beatnik, and stands in a mock-confrontational pose, challenging both the complicated nature of society ("A Singer Must Die," "Field Commander Cohen," "There is a War") and distressing predicaments with another cast of abusive, self-destructive, yet intoxicating women ("I Tried to Leave You," "Chelsea Hotel #2," "Leaving Green Sleeves") with a fistful of clever irony and satire. Cohen's tongue being placed in his cheek does not, however, equal the complete loss of the intimate, folk rock beauty of his music. "Who by the Fire" is as striking, moving and poignant any song the man has written and "Take This Longing" is one of his most ardent, elegantly expressed requests. Generally, the album keeps the solemn and dignified air of Cohen's previous works. Its added whimsical flair only makes his music more entertaining and invigorating.

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